Miscellaneous
The Sardinian Paradox: Black wines
A beautiful view from Sardinia
“Sixty Minutes” told the white-wine-worried to drink red for their heart’s sake more than a decade ago. Now Good Morning America trumpets the health benefits of “black” wine, specifically the Cannonau of Sardinia as magic bullets of antioxidants and anthocyanin in a bottle.
This is not so much breakthrough science as a new wave of publicity for a veggie-heavy Mediterranean diet. In this case, GMA guest Dan Buettner touted his new book on “Blue Zones” a term he coined for clusters of great longevity. He hails Sardinians for a traditional peasant diet long on bread, cheese and wine. Meat? Not so much, Buettner says.
Well it is an island and, duh, home of sardines. Still Buettner says fish is not as important as sheep’s cheese and dark red wine. His other “blue zones” are not viticultural hot spots: Okinawan, the Nikoya peninsula of Costa Rica, and the Adventist/vegetarian center of Loma Linda, California.
Me, I suspect hard work and exercise have more to do with it. Yet Canonau, Sardinia and its distinctive cuisine deserve the plug.
Cannonau is the local name for Grenache or Garnacha, a dark-skinned and rustic favorite around the Mediterranean. Too many Americans think Grenache is a wimp grape for jug wines, especially pink. Hardly. Cannonau/grenache/garnacha can make rich stuff in America, Spain, the south of France and especially Sardinia, the big island west of Tuscany and north of Sicily. One of the best is Sella & Mosca’s riserva from 2005. Full of flowers and dark dried fruits, a lot of wine for $12.99. And yes, it’s very dark. Drink to long life.
2005 Sardus Pater Kanai Riserva of Sardinia - $34.99
Another darkling, more sophisticated and possibly more salubrious is the Kanai reserve from Sardus Pater, made from Carignane a compatriot grape of Grenache is the dark skinned Mediterranean gang. This won a three-glass Tre Biccherri salute from Gambero Rosso, even before the diet doctors weighed in. It’s $34.99 at B-21.
As to the healthful red wine, most research points to the dark est but researchers are still deciding which grapes varietals have the most punch. Dark colors, high tannins, high extraction, extra sunlight, high altitude are clues, not guarantees.
Still color is fun and purple black in a glass excites me and starts an old Isley Brothers tune in my head “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”
Besides Cannonau/Grenache , other dark wines are high in the right flavonoids, specificially the tannins and anthocyanins. These are found in the seeds, stems and skins of grapes that give red and blue colors to wine (anthocyanins color flowers too) and rather healthful.
These include Mourvedre/Monastrell, the tannat of Uruguay, and the Malbecs of Argentina and Cahors southeast of Bordeaux.
While we’re at it, the food in Sardinia is unusually fresh and primal. The island has its own pecorino, a couscous called fregola. flaky flat bread as fragile as old sheet music, and wood-fired meats. You can get a great helping of the island’s food and wines (black and otherwise) at Sardinia Ristorante and Enoteca on a quiet corner of Miami’s South Beach.
So drink up and live long. Very long.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
What were we drinking? Yorkshire ale meets hot, hot, hot.
Beer and curry is a classic pub pairing but this night upped the ante. The food was Thai take-out green papaya salad and a skillet full of jerk pork shoulder. Some menus at my place are like that. In this case the jerk came from Publix, where the meat department was bored with beef and stir-fry veggies and tried out jerked pork and a chicken leg curry. Hat’s off.
Together they packed a vinegar punch, a double shot of peppers and a spice grinder full of fun.
Riggwelter Yorkshire Ale at B-21 for $3.99/btl in-store.
The answer was not an India Pale Ale, but a hefty no-nonsense English strong ale from Yorkshire, the Rigg Welter from Black Sheep Brewery. Whew, Yorkshire ale is from a different planet, one that deserves more attention and savoring: the strength is in massive broad hops as well as big alcohol.
Riggwelter is an exceptional ale from Black Sheep, a young brewery with old traditions. Btw, the name is what old Yorkshire farmers call a sheep that’s fallen and can’t get up (Must have been a wave of sheep-tipping).
This is dark coffee brown with a creamy head with an aroma of fresh roasted coffee that carries through to an earthy flavors of coffee and malt and hops bitter enough to stand up to all the flavors on my plate.
It’s a hop heads delight, one of many on the expanding shelves of craft beers at B-21.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Priorat rocks: Geology you can taste
The Rocky Slate Landscape in Priorat
Too much terroir talk is of rainfall, heat-degree days, angles of slope, fogs and breezes. Oughta be more on terra that underlies it all, dirt and rocks. Don’t say soil; unlike most farmers grape growers never brag about fertile ground. They love to pick up big rocks and boast of granite or clay. The harder the vines work, the richer the grape. No grapes work harder than those in Priorat, small rocky terrain between Barcelona and the coast, so dusty and rugged Clint Eastwood could have made Catalan Westerns in the boulders. It’s hard to navigate a car or tractor but rugged grape vines have fought through stacks and stacks of solid slate and schist for centuries to find water. When they do, the Grenache and especially the Carinena (Carignane, but don’t tell the snobs) make rich juice with a distinctly slaty character. Great stuff as B-21 explorers found this February once they got past Rioja and Ribera. Tiny Priorat is the next big thing and already one of the most dear because of the difficult growing and farming and low yields . The texture and taste isn’t quite blackboard, more like the licorice of childhood, black and long lasting, both smooth and chewy. Exhibit No. 1 was the 2006 Mas Doix Doix ($109.99), a grand mountain ram of a wine, bold, elegant and gamy, red and black berries pressed almost to membrillo paste, earthy and candied. Half carinena, it makes Sr. Parker swoon with memory of grand cru Burgundy and a number like… 97. The more affordable Salanques (the 2006 is only $29.99) was more Rhonish and longer on Grenache but you still taste the rocks and the sap of the old vines, lots of berries, full and happy in the mouth with a sleek finish. Priorat’s brimming with small exquisitely rugged vineyards today, and B-21 has two dozen not including the grand Mas Alta range (formerly known as Mas Romani).
2007 Black Slate Priorat - Reg 19.99 (On Sale Now - $17.99) for a limited time!
Yet you can start your climb more easily with the 2007 Black Slate, a new “village Priorat” from Porrera at $17.99. This is still rich drinking, old vines with blue-black berries, dense and almost sweet. At all levels, Priorat is not tinto for tapas; slaughter the fatted calf, bring in the young lamb and the oldest ham. Priorat is also at the heart and start of our trusted European Cellars of Eric Solomon. The ancient rocks and vines there were revitalized by a Gang of Five smart Spanish winemakers 20 years ago. One of them Daphne Glorian, introduced Eric Solomon to Priorat with her Clos Erasmus and eventually married him.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Burgunder rising
German wine , it’s not all white. You knew that, you say but you’re still confused?
Once limited local oddities, reds of Germany and Austria, especially pinot noir, have boomed in production and promotion. While pinot has always been something of a cool climate red, warming climates has allowed it to move farther north and ripen better; plus viticulturalists have bred, rescued and purified other grape strain. More than a third of German vineyards now bear red .
Media reception is warmer too judging from Eric Asimov’s report of a wine dinner with 19 Spatburgunders at the Austrian restaurant Seasonal in Manhattan in the NYT.
For those who have learned the infinite parsing of Riesling in Germanic hands, red wines are a different matter. Many areas, old and new ,and a bigger range of grapes. One clue, when seeking g red in German wine terms, think blau (blue or black grapes) and rot (red but a poor word choice).
So here’s a clue to the German names of varietals you’ll find on bottles from Mitteleuropa (and from other chilly climates around the world seeking grapes with flavor and hardiness):
2008 P. J. Valckenberg Dornfelder - 9.99 (8.99 by the case!)
Blauer Portugieser: No one knows if it has roots in Oporto, but it makes good roses and reds from dull to claret. Get a good taste of it from the 2007 Kallstadt ($9.99).
Blaufrankisch, aka Lemberger: Rich, spicy reds grown widely in eastern Europe and occasionally in the U.S. Northwest. From the red hot red wine center of Wurttemberg in the Mosel, B-21 sought out the 2007 Grafen Neipperg which shows how it’s done well ($15.99).
Dornfelder: Verystrong, fruity and good texture and a good grower, but still second to spatburgunder. Look to Rheinhessen producers like Valckenberg’s 2008 ($9.99).
Sankt Laurent: Probably related to pinot noir, good aroma and easier to grow.
Spatburgunder: German for pinot noir and the most heavily planted. B-21 has two from Baden under $15 and a rare treat found by B-21, the rave-winning 2005 Huber Malterninger ($59.99) one of Germany’s best .
Zweigelt: A cross of Blaufrankisch and Sankt Laurent, most popular in Austria and also grown in Canada.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Oz
Australians value wine prizes and awards very seriously. So when Gourmet Traveller WINE, the country’s grand wine glossy named its 2009 Winemaker of the Year, I had to cheer.
This time it went to Andrew Wigan, a key player for 30 years at Peter Lehmann in the Barossa. Wigan knows prizes from both sides. He’s one of the most respected wine judges (yes, Aussies respect wine judges), and he’s also brought home the Jimmy Watson Trophy, the highest honor on occasion.
2007 Lehmann Shiraz Barossa - $14.99
Best news: his fine work in the vineyard and the cellar is affordable. The 2006 Lehmann Shiraz is only $14.99 but was 54 on Spectator’s Top 100 for 2009: “Ripe and round, this is generous with its smoky cherry and black currant flavors, persisting against mildly grippy tannins to create a long, layered finish. Best from 2010 through 2016. ” 91 points
Wigan follows in impressive footsteps. Last year’s winner was Louisa Rosa of yummy Yalumba, a treasury of Australia’s best traditions and innovations.
Btw, if you care about Australian wine (and food) or wine period, check out Gourmet Traveller WINE. While it gives Australia and New Zealand the handsome coverage it deserves, it covers the world with true Australian character, adventurous, sophisticated and fresh enough to declare great wines ”ripper reds.” Not shabby on the awards front either. It won the golden ladle for World’s Best Drinks Magazine in the World Food Media Awards.
- Chris Sherman
Naples pops $8 million at auction
The richest wine charity… What recession?
Wine lovers at the 10th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival in Naples opened their wallets and hearts in a big way, chipping in $8 million for troubled children across Collier County, reversing two years of declining receipts.
The results from bids on bottles of rare wines, luxury trips and the like was $3 million more than last year, when the auction felt the biggest pinch of the recession . It’s also substantially more than the annual auction in Napa Valley ($5.9 million last year) making it one of the richest wine charities in the world and rivaling the famous auction at the Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy.
The top selling wine lot of the day was $150,000 bid for four 9-liter salmanazars of Ch. Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion. The chateau ‘s proprietor, Prince Robert of Luxembourg, had initially donated two bottles from the 2005 vintage, but after visiting the children’s charities supported by the auction, he doubled his lot adding two virtual salmanazars of the new 2009 vintage not yet bottled.
“I think the 2009 will be among the finest vintages we’ve made in two centuries,’’ Prince Robert told me.
Other top wine lots included:
2005 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa) $1500.00 on Pre-Order at B-21
$140,000 for sixteen doublel magnums of great Burgundies donated by Baseball’s Rusty Staub.
$120,000 Harland Estates , 94 97, 2001, 2002 donated by the Harland’s who were this year’s honored.
$65,000 for 12 bottles of Screaming Eagle, 1999-2005’
$100,000 for 30 Burgundies, including nine 2005 DRC
$80,000 for 100 bottles of topo Australians, including verticals of Penfolds Grange and Hill of Grace.
$90,000 for four 5- and 6 liter bottles of Araujo Estate with dinner at the French Laundry.
$50,000 for an eleven year vertical of Lail Vineyard’s rare J Daniel Cuvee.
Of the 61 lots at auction some included wine together with trips to Thailand and New York, cruises, Nascar passes and even a walk-on role on the sitcom Modern Family, and they drew big money as well. The top non-wine lot brought $440,000 for a weeklong cruise on a 170-yacht in the Mediterranean.
Francis Rooney, who chaired this year’s auction said the group never predicted numbers for this year’s auction given the tougheconomy so he was delighted that 500 people came up with $8 million.
“I’m gratified that this community dug so deep.’’
- Chris Sherman
Brrrrrrrrr…
Baby, it is cold outside but wine lovers in Florida see the bright side: Perfect weather for stews, barbecue, chili, leg of lamb… and big reds. At last!
Some folks bring out the amarones, the big mountain cabs or the ports. Me, I call the chill wind “petite sirah.”
2006 Girard Petite Sirah Napa - 24.99 (22.49 by the case!)
Despite the name, petite’s very big, the John Wayne of wines. It’s an unsophisticated fieldhand working with zinfandel in old California field blends. Big in alcohol, a truckload of flavors, black berries, blueberries, raspberries, pepper and spice, chocolate and licorice, and yet its texture is lush and supple thanks to palate-friendly tannins.
While petite is a secret weapon in many great zins and newfangled table reds, it’s rich on its own. In the value cellar, petite’s my fave on the flavor-per-dollar scale. Bogle and McManis (9.99) and Ravenswood ($6.99) are consistent winners. At those prices and this weather, better lay in a case before snow blocks the passes.
Petite is not just a cousin from no-name corners of the Central Valley; Petite still grows in NapaValley and comes out elegantly in 2004 Delectus ($43.99) and Girard’s 2006 ($24.99). Up in Alexander Valley where the Seghesios show great respect to their pioneer elders, they expanded and replanted the 1895 clones to make an historic and heroic Home Ranch Petite Sirah in2005 ($31.99).
2007 Argiano NC Non Confunditur (Tuscany)
2007 Argiano NC Non Confunditor (Tuscany) - 19.99
“Argiano’s 2007 NC is a Tuscan blend that shows exciting power, with the inherent sweetness of the Merlot component acting as a bridge between the firm earthiness of the Sangiovese, the spicy blackcurrant of the Cabernet and the warm red fruit of the Syrah. The result is a generous, round red wine for early to mid-term drinking with aromas of currant and generous fruit flavors, which are versatile enough to develop more depth in the bottle. It is an excellent value and was chosen as one of the top 100 wines of the year by the Wine Spectator.” (90WS)
90 Points, Steve Rayman
February 2010
New Arrival from Wolf Blass is a steal at a $13.99
2006 Wolf Blass Gold Shiraz - On sale for $14.99 at B-21 (for a limited time)
We hear “Beringer Blass” so much now we forget the first name of the modern Australian genius is Wolf, as inWolfgang. He landed Down Under more than 50 years ago, an East German sparkling winemaker who dreamed of making great reds. He blazed trails across Barossa in a green VW beetle consulting and preaching the new style of Australian wine we’ve come to love. He bought his own vineyards in 1969 and when the first wave of Australians hit the US in the ‘80s, one of the best was eagle-crested Wolf Blass. Oz shipments grew and grew; Wolf’s own label got bigger, too to join Mildarra, Beringer Wine Estates and ultimately oilcan Fosters.
As you can taste in the 2006 Gold Label Barossa Shiraz, Wolf Blass’s own brand just got better, big bold and smooth as back in the day. This is classic Shiraz, big and broad, full of berries and plums spiced with smoke, licorice, pepper and a touch of cocoa. It’s a hefty 15.5% ABV yet you won’t taste the alcohol. Tannins are invitingly soft. Put the lamb shanks on now.
The 2006 ’s also deserves the ultimate Aussie compliment “It’s good value.” An understatement worthy of Croc Dundee himself. Nowhere on the street or the internet is it a better deal than at B-21 if you can find this vintage at all. At $13.99 a bottle this is a Shiraz that ought to fill several rows of your cellar.
“This exhibits generous blackberry and raspberry fruit at the core, shading the edges with pretty white pepper, cream and floral overtones that insinuate themselves beautifully as the finish goes on and on. Drink now through 2016.” 91 Points, Wine Spectator
From the folks who brought you Screaming Eagle…
Situated in an old-world, 12’ by 18’ stone building on a rocky Oakville hillside, Screaming Eagle is one of Napa’s smallest wineries. Since its first release of 200 or so cases in 1992 Screaming Eagle has soaked adulation like The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. One of California’s most sought after wines, its high quality, rave reviews and insanely small production numbers translate to a product that fetches quite lofty prices; in 2001 a collector paid $650,000 for eight extremely rare 3.0L bottles spanning from 1992 to 1999.
Aged in 65% new French oak in a small cave for nearly two years, Screaming Eagle’s still-diminutive production figures hover around 500 cases per annum with the preponderance shipped directly to eager mailing list members. The winery’s website is dark and bare. Reminiscent of the curt gatekeeper of Oz, it consists merely of contact info and a brief FAQ page that informs eager wine hunters that they, like the shivering hopefuls in search of season tickets to Lambeau Field, have virtually no chance at serendipity unless someone goes toes up. “Production cannot nearly accommodate the demand evidenced by the existing waiting list…” the site reads. “With a waiting list of this length it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase wine directly from the winery, and therefore we have stopped adding names…” Bummer. What do we drink while we wait? Read on…there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
A stone’s throw from the mystical Hans Christian Anderson Park just off the western edge of Los Padres National Forest lies Jonata [pronounced “Ho-nah-ta”], the exciting offshoot project from the heralded artisans at Screaming Eagle. Named for an 1845 land grant inked by California’s last Mexican governor, Pio Pico, the vineyards occupy the old Rancho San Carlos de Jonata of Santa Ynez Valley, a prosperous family-owned horse and cattle ranch that fell from grace after the drought of 1876-1877.
The goal of Jonata is to produce captivating Bordeaux blends, the current success of which Robert Parker stresses is “mind-boggling.” Upon tasting Jonata’s 2006 and 2007 barrel samples, Parker averred that “this is one of California’s most exciting new wineries.”
For the first time ever, we are proud to offer the dynamic wines of Jonata. A few bottles remain of both the 05 La Tierra and the 05 Corazon.
2005 Jonata La Tierra $64.99
The 2005 La Tierra de Jonata (93% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon) continues Jonata’s penchant for producing the finest Sangiovese in California. A deep ruby/purple hue is accompanied by a sumptuously rich nose of strawberries, new saddle leather, licorice, roasted herbs, and spice. Expansive, round, and medium-bodied with terrific fruit purity and intensity, this amazing wine should drink beautifully for 5-6 years. 93 points, The Wine Advocate
2005 Jonata Corazon $69.99
The 2005 El Corazon de Jonata (41% Syrah, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 2% Sauvignon Blanc) is denser, richer, and more perfumed than its 2004 counterpart. The overall impression is one of a sensual/seductive wine boasting an inky/blue/purple color as well as copious amounts of blue, red, and black fruits interwoven with truffle, charcoal, and graphite scents. This full-bodied, powerful 2005 offers both significant flavor authority and elegance. It will last for 15 or more years. 94 points, The Wine Advocate
~Shawn Reynolds, B-21